Touch
by I.M. Elizabeth
Summary: Matt loses his temper when he pays attention to Mello and his lover.  Mello/OC


**Touch**

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Death Note or any of it's respective characters and situations. However I do own Layla Levandi and the writing seen here. Please do not use them without my permission._

It was funny, watching the two of them interact with one another.

Matt supposed it was the sheer newness of being around one another. Layla and Mello reminded him of frightened rabbits, carefully sniffing at one another with twitching, wet noses before deciding who would leap first.

Today was no different really.

Mello sat languidly on the sofa, legs sprawled out widely as he rifled through a worn copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, his eyes not really reading the page. Mello had always been a difficult person to read when he was like this, so hatefully calm.

Layla however, was as open as a textbook.

She was practically dying to touch him, Matt could tell by the way her hand twitched impulsively by her thigh. It was mere inches, no, _centimeters_ from Mello's own and every few seconds it would twitch as if she was trying to gather up the courage to touch him.

But she pretended not to be interested as she sat beside him, trying to mask her want by smoking cigarette after cigarette.

It wasn't like they should be so scared of one another, they'd already seen each other naked for fuck's sake!

The day Mello had officially woken up, Layla had told Matt to go to the store and pick up food. Chocolate, cigarettes, anything. She had looked desperate, and even he could tell she really just wanted to be alone with Mello. Layla had seemed disturbed, quietly confiding earlier that Mello had hit her, and that he seemed...different somehow. Either way, she seemed convinced that some alone time with Mello would do her good, and Matt had obliged.

However, that night when he'd finally gotten back from the store, the whole atmosphere was different. The air seemed thick, but not exactly in a bad way, just filled with a sort of heated tension that was both familiar and strange.

He'd been about to call out for Layla, tell her that he'd picked her up a pack of cigarettes, and make a joke that her lungs were probably blacker than his by now.

But then, he'd heard it, a soft, strained moan coming from the bedroom where Mello had been sleeping and Layla had been watching over him. His face burned and he almost fought the urge to laugh, so it had finally happened. Then his eyes shot over to Layla's tank top on the floor and he shook his head, red hair fluttering over his goggle covered eyes, trying not to imagine why in the world they would have started in the kitchen.

Matt had merely plopped on the couch and plugged headphones into his PSP, turning up the volume as loud as his ears could stand.

It was funny, that was what he longed to do now, but not exactly because of obnoxious sex noises. But the air was thick again, thick with Layla's want and Mello's utter apathy towards her.

Matt couldn't take it any more, the flip of Mello's pages, the way they slid roughly over the pads of his fingers. Layla's inhalation of smoke every few seconds, only to puff it out in self righteous swirls, they way her hand twitched scraping her long nails against the fabric of the sofa.

"BLOODY FUCKING HELL!" he roared.

This was enough to send both Mello and Layla flying into the air. Mello dropped his book in surprise and glared at Matt heatedly while Layla merely stared at him, cigarette dangling precariously in her lips.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Mello snapped, picking up his book again and frantically shuffling to the page he had been on.

"You two fucking tossers! That's what's wrong!"

"We haven't done anything!" Layla exclaimed, seemingly shocked by Matt's outburst.

"Exactly!" he growled, "You're like dying to jump Mello's bones over here, but he's too thickheaded to even realize it! Jesus, I can't take it! You've seen each other in your fucking skivvies and you can't even hold hands! Pathetic, absolutely pathetic."

He stormed out the door, leaving both Mello and Layla looking surprised by his sudden outburst and absence.

Mello glanced over at Layla, one eyebrow raised, "You've been thinking about jumping my bones?"

Once Matt had calmed down enough, soothing his anger with two new video games and smoking several cigarettes outside of a local gas station, he decided it would probably be prudent to go ahead and head back to the apartments.

When he entered the apartment, he noted with some disappointment that both Mello and Layla hadn't changed their positions. Mello still sat reading while Layla puffed away on her cigarette.

However, when he strode past them, he couldn't help but notice something.

They were touching.

The back of Layla's hand was pressed against the side of Mello's hand, a simple gesture, probably meaningless to most but to Matt it held the faintest glimmer of hope.

They would be okay.


End file.
